The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, has called on the European Union to sign the EU-Ukraine association agreement as quickly as possible.

An Interfax-Ukraine reporter said that 267 MPs out of the 410 registered in the parliament’s session hall on Tuesday had voted for the resolution on a statement by the Verkhovna Rada on the signing of the association agreement, including a deep and comprehensive free trade area, between Ukraine and the EU. The parliament called on the EU to “demonstrate political will and ensure the speedy signing of the association agreement between Ukraine and the EU.”

The Verkhovna Rada proposed that the EU envisage the opportunity to start implementing the association agreement before it comes into force. The parliament also called on the EU to ensure that all documents needed to ratify the association agreement, including the free trade area, are synchronously submitted to the Verkhovna Rada, the European Parliament and the national parliaments of EU member states immediately after the signing of the agreement. The parliament proposed that the EU provide sufficient financial, technical and legislative assistance to Ukraine in a period of preparations for the implementation of the agreement.